The invention relates to electric lighting. More particularly, the invention relates to light fixtures for indirect lighting.
Well-developed fields exist in indirect lighting and architectural lighting fixtures. A particular area of indirect lighting is known as cove lighting. In a typical cove lighting situation, an upwardly open channel structure is built along a wall near the ceiling. The wall may be a side wall of the room, a sidewall of a recess in the ceiling, a side surface of a beam, or the like. Light bulbs or other light sources are mounted within the channels so that the emitted light escapes generally upward to directly light the wall and ceiling above and, indirectly, an interior of the room and its contents. The channels are built with conventional building techniques involving framing, wallboard installation, plastering, and the like.
Alternatives involve elongate fixtures used for cove lighting. Such fixtures typically include an elongate bulb within an elongate reflector positioned so that light from the bulb and reflector does not directly pass to objects within a room but, rather, is first diffusely reflected from a ceiling, wall, or other architectural feature. Such fixtures may be assembled end-to-end in lieu of placing fixtures within a preexisting channel. Exemplary systems are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,881,156, 5,550,725, 7,249,870 and 7,658,518. Although its prior art status is unclear, a so-called “edgeless cove” lighting system from Whitegoods Lighting Ltd. has a tapering edge extrusion having a recess which receives wallboard forming the underside of the cove perimeter. U.S. Pat. No. 9,062,840 (the '840 patent) of Swisha et al., issued Jun. 23, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein as if set forth at length, discloses several variations on a recent fixture.